I’ve written about John Kasich’s holier-than-thou attitude before, and he just keeps doubling down. This time, he’s saying opponents of Medicaid expansion need to read the Bible and that expanding Medicaid is like fighting ISIS. (I know, I’m not sure either.)
If Mike Huckabee had Kasich’s attitude and talked this way, the media would be comparing him to the Westboro Baptists. But because Kasich loves to get all chummy with the media with his “forward” views on gay marriage, Medicaid, and being cool with the youth, they love him:
KASICH: Part of the difficulty we have in this town is we don’t have leaders who are willing to lead instead of reacting to who yells the loudest. I mean, look at Medicaid expansion. You know how many people are yelling at me? I’ve gone to events where people yell at me. You know what? You know what I tell ‘em? I mean, God bless ‘em, I’m telling them a little bit better at this. I said, ‘You know, there’s a book, it’s got a new part and an old part. They put it together. It’s a remarkable book. If you don’t have one, uh, I’ll buy you one. It talks about how we treat the poor.’ I mean, sometimes you just have to lead. It’s like fighting ISIS, okay? Are the American people ready to put boots on the ground in the Middle East? Well if we don’t stop ISIS, this becomes, at some point, a direct threat to the United States. It doesn’t mean you don’t listen, but you cannot let the yelling and the screaming determine your decision making.
Kasich is the Jon Huntsman of 2016, and my prediction is that he’ll end up like Huntsman — a footnote of the 2016 election.
Thomas Valentine is a researcher for APIA and a junior at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.
